breithut



(No Model.)

0. P. BREITHUT. REGLINING CHAIR AND GOUGH.

No. 559,668. Patented May 5, 1896.

lumnuu I F llllllllll /w UNITED STATES PATENT Price,

OSCAR P. BREITHUT, OF l-VILLIAMSPORT, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO E. O. BREITHUT, OF SAME PLACE.

RECLlNlNG-CHAIR AND COUCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 559,668, dated May 5, 1896.

Application filed November 21,1895I Serial No. 569,644. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OSCAR P. BREITHUT, a citizen of the United States, residing at lVilliamsport, in the county of Lyconiing and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Reclining-Chair and Couch, of which the following is a specification.

My invcn tion relates to reclining-chai rs and couches, and has for its object to provide a simple and improved construction and arrangement of parts whereby the adjustment of the back may be accomplished by the occupant of the chair without risk of the back falling or slipping and thus passing beyond the control of the operator, and, furthermore, to provide simple and efficient means for maintaining the back in such a position as to form a lounge.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will appear in the following description, and the novel features thereof will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a chair constructed in accordance with my invention with the back arranged in the sitting position. Fig. 2 is a similar view with the back arranged in the reclining position and supported by the catch-arms. Fig. 3 is a rear view. Fig. 4: is a detail view in perspective of the friction-hinge and contiguous portions of the chair, the hinge illustrated being one of those by which the back is connected to the chair-frame. Fig. 5 is a detail section of the pivotal end of one of the V catch-arms when in the supporting position shown in Fig. 2 to illustrate the relative positions of the parts when said catch-arm is secured by the sliding bolt. Fig. 6 is a de tail vertical section of the rear portion of the chair-seat and the contiguous portion of the back to show the relative positions of said parts in connection with the hinges whereby the back is mounted upon the seat, the back being shown in its upright position in full lines and in a reclining position in dotted lines.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawings.

1 represents the stationary frame of the chair, provided with front and rear legs 2 and 3, which are extended above the plane of the seat-frame 1 to form standards 4. and 5, by which the chair-arms 6 are supported, said arms being provided with suitable braces 7.

The back-frame 8 is hinged or pivoted at its lower end to the rear side of the seat-frame by means of friction-hinges so constructed as to provide a resistance sufficient to support the back in any desired position, irrespective of fastening devices. The construction of hinge which I propose to employ comprises base-plates 9, secured, respectively, to the frames to be connected, cap-plates 10, ar ranged upon and coextensive with the baseplates and connected therewith to prevent accidental displacement by means of rivets 11, the alined centers of the cap-plates being arched, as shown at 12, to form bearings, and a pivot pin or pintle 13, seated in said bearings, the cap-plates being adjustable toward and from the base-plates to vary the frictional contact of said plates with the pivot pin or pintle by means of screws 14. By tightening the adj listing-screws the frictional contact between the parts of the hinge may be increased to such an extent as to hold the back at any desired inclination, whereby when it is desired to change the adjustment of the back it is necessary to force the same against the resistance offered by the hinges.

In order to lock the chair-back at the desired adjustment,l employ catch-arms 15 ,pivoted at 16 to the side stiles of the back-frame and provided at their free front ends with hooks 17 to engage lateral pins 18 on the chair-arm G. The catch-arms are arranged at a greater interval than the chair-arms, whereby the inner surfaces of the catch-arms are disposed approximately in contact with the outer surfaces of the chair-arms, said pins 18, which are preferably headed, as shown, projecting outwardly from the chair-arms. By reason of this construction, as will be ob vious, the catchar1ns, after disengagement from the locking-pins, may be swung vertically downward to occupy the position shown in Fig. 2, with their lower extremities resting upon the floor, whereby said catch-arms are adapted to perform the function of supports for the back when the latter is in an approximately horizontal position. In order to further adapt the catch-arms to perform this function, they are constructed of a length approximately equal to, or slightly greater than, the height of the seat of the chair.

I preferably employ friction-hinges of the construction above described to form the connection between the pivotal ends of the catch arms and the side stiles of the back-frame, as shown in Fig. 3 at 16, whereby accidental disengagement of the free ends of the catcharms from the locking-pins 18 is prevented, and in addition to the above I employ locking-bolts 19, mounted upon the back-frame and adapted toengage sockets 20 in the catcharms when the latter are in the approximately vertical or extended position shown in Fi 2. These bolts prevent disarrangement of the catch-arms.

From the above description it will be seen that in order to increase the inclination of the back of the chair it is simply necessary for the occupant thereof to disengage the free ends of the catch-arms from the locking-pins and lean back sufficiently to move the backframe against the resistance offered by the friction-hinges until the desired position is reached. Upon rcleasin g the catch-arms they will reengage the lockiiigpins, and thus secure the parts at the desired adjustment. To diminish the inclination of the back, it is simply necessary to draw the upper end of the back-frame forward until the desired position is reached, the free ends of the catcharms meanwhile slipping idly'over the locking-pins by means of the beveled front surfaces 17 a of the hooks on said arms. The free ends of the catch-arms are preferably providedwith knobs 21 to facilitate disengagement from the locking-pins.

It will be understood that the above-described improvement, in so far as it relates to the swinging catch-arms, friction-hinges at their pivotal points, and the headed catchpins, may be used in connection with the head of a couch as well as with a chair of the general construction shown and described, and hence I reserve the privilege of applying this feature of my invention to those different articles of furniture, including a couch, with which it may be employed.

The special advantage connected with the use of the particular friction-hinge illustrated in the drawings resides in the fact that itperforms its function with its axis arranged above the lower extremity of the back-fra1ne,whereby in swinging the back-frame rcarwardly to the reclining position no space is opened between the seat and back frames, and hence when extended the cushions of the couch form a continuous surface to support the occupant.

Various changes in the form, proportion, and the minor .details of construction maybe resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention.

Having described my invention, what I claim is- 1. In a chair or couch, the combination with a' stationary seat -frame, of a back frame hinged to the seat-frame, the connection between said frames consisting of frictionhinges each embodying a pivot-pin or pintle, a pair of flat base-plates, a pair of cap-plates arranged respectively upon the base-plates and provided with alined arched hearings to receive the pivot-pin or pintle, and adj ustingscrews for drawing the cap-plates toward the base plates to vary the frictional contact thereof with the pivot-pin or pintle,=said hinges being arranged with their pivot-pins or pin tles above the plane of the lower edge ofthe back-frame, and locking devices for securing the back at the desired adjustment, substan tially as specified.

2. In a reclining-chair, the combination of a stationary seat-frame and fixed side arms, and a back-frame hinged at its lower end to the seat-frame, of catch-arms pivotally connected to the side edges of the back-frame and arranged, respectively, out of the vertical planes of the side arms, whereby they are adapted to be swung into a pendent or approximately vertical position to rest at their lower extremities upon the floor when the back-frame is arranged in an approximately horizontal position, said catch-arms being provided with means for engaging projections upon the side arms, and means for securing the catch-arms in said pendent position, substantially as specified.

3. In a chair, the combination with a stationary seat-frame and side arms, and a backframe hinged to the seat frame, of catcharms pivotally mounted upon the back-frame and adapted to be arranged at their free ends contiguous to the side arms when the backframe is elevated and in contact with the floor to support the back-frame when the latter is in an approximately horizontal position, and locking devices for securing the catch-arms at the desired adjustment in either of said positions, substantially as specified.

4. In a reclining-chair, the combination with a stationary seat-frame having side arms, and a back-frame hinged at its lower end to the seat-frame, of catch-arms hinged to the back frame and approximately equal in length to the height of the seat, the connection between the catch-arms and the backframe consisting of friction-hinges, whereby resistance is offered to the pivotal or swinging movement of said arms, means for se- ICO curing the front ends of the catch-arms at In testimony that I claim the foregoing as any desired adjustment to the side arms, and my own I have hereto affixed my signature in looking-bolts on the back-frame to engage the presence of two witnesses.

sockets in the catch-arms and look the latter OSCAR P. BREITHUT, 5 in a pendent position to support the back- Witnesses:

frame by pressure upon the floor, substzm- J. CLINTON HILL,

tially as specified. H. RUSSELL HILL. 

